Since beginning operations in 1998, the BTSC has provided brownfields stakeholders with the following types of services:
- Reviewing and providing comments on project documents, such as requests for proposals, work plans, field sampling plans, and quality assurance plans
- Facilitating the consideration and use of the Triad approach
- Providing information about field-based technologies for site assessment and cleanup
- Identifing how dynamic work strategies and decision support tools can be incorporated in site assessment activities
- Evaluating remedial technologies and their advantages and limitations for site-specific features and needs
- Sharing technical information with non-technical audiences
- Providing easy access to resources, tools, recent news, and lessons learned
For Superfund sites, EPA OSRTI provides support services similar to those provided for Brownfields sites through the Superfund Technical Support Team (STST). EPA staff can request support for technical assistance via the BTSC site.
Services may be classified into two categories:
Local and state government personnel, EPA staff, tribes, and nonprofits with active EPA Brownfields Cleanup Grants may request site-specific support for brownfields sites from the BTSC and Superfund sites from the STST at no cost.
Nongovernment organizations are limited to information requests only.
Planning Support
Planning support includes planning for the use of innovative technologies and strategies, such as the Triad approach, at a
specific brownfields or land revitalization site. Support includes evaluating available documents to assess how to incorporate
elements of the Triad, including better use of field analytic technologies, and can include activities related to planning
procurement activities under a Triad approach or use of decision support tools such as Field Environmental Decision Support (FIELDS),
Spatial Analysis Decision Assistance (SADA), Visual Sampling Plan (VSP), or Scribe.
Document Reviews
Document reviews include technical reviews of requests for proposals (RFP), sampling and analysis plans (SAP), quality
assurance project plans (QAPP), feasibility studies, engineering designs, or work plans. The BTSC evaluates the documents
with regard to technology options, implementation processes, use of the Triad approach, and other appropriate elements.
Technology Scoping for Site Assessment or Investigation and Cleanup Technologies
Technology scoping includes preparing lists of potentially applicable technologies along with brief analyses of their advantages
and disadvantages under specific conditions at a site and in light of the specific features and needs of a site. This function
is not a formal review or approval process, but can provide decision makers with preliminary information in support of
decisions or approvals.
Technology Descriptions
Technology descriptions include brief (several pages) "layman’s" guides for a specific technology or technique. The
guides can assist decision-makers to more fully understand the principles of the technology (along with its cost and the
time necessary to implement it) and assist them in communicating the appropriateness of a technology to constituents and
stakeholders.
Review of Literature and Electronic Resources
Literature and electronic resource reviews include available information resources for technologies or classes of technologies relevant
to specific decisions at a site. The purpose of the reviews is to allow stakeholders an opportunity to broaden their understanding
of the technology options available for use at their sites.
Demonstration Planning Support
Drawing upon the expertise of EPA's Superfund Innovative Technologies Evaluation (SITE) program, the BTSC provides
planning assistance and technical review capabilities to localities that are seeking to arrange demonstrations and evaluations
of innovative sampling, analytical, or treatment technologies.
The BTSC and STST can provide information about specific technologies or types of technologies for use during site investigation and cleanup activities. These activities can include field-based measurement techniques, off-site analytical techniques, and innovative or conventional techniques for cleaning up contaminated soil or groundwater at a site. The BTSC and STST can identify applicable technologies and provide brief analyses of their potential advantages and limitations in light of site-specific features and needs. Moreover, technology information can be provided for a broad range of audiences, including technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
Local and state government personnel, EPA staff, tribes, and nonprofits with active EPA Brownfields Cleanup Grants may request direct support at no cost.
Examples of Recent Site Support
Poudre River Site, Fort Collins, CO
- The site contains a 12-acre former municipal burn landfill that operated from the late 1930’s to
the early 1960’s.
- Fuel-related groundwater contamination and the presence of coal tar in the Cache la Poudre
River were issues of concern. The proximity of a former manufactured gas plant (MGP) and a
gasoline supply station to the landfill prompted EPA Region 8 to conduct a Targeted
Brownfields Assessment (TBA).
- The BTSC assisted with the development of field work plans using the principles of the Triad
approach.
- Support included development of an evolving CSM to determine the source and extent of
contamination at a complex site, and input on cost-effective site characterization using
innovative sampling and field-based analytical technologies.
Rodeo Waterfront, CA
- The Contra Costa Redevelopment Agency was awarded two $200,000 Brownfields
Assessment Grants for the Rodeo Waterfront. One grant is for "Bennett's Marina" and is a
hazardous materials grant. The second is for "Joseph's Fishing Resort" and is a petroleum
grant.
- The major concern on the site is a tar pit from a petroleum refinery that was on or near the site
in the early 1900s. The refinery most likely burned in 1926. The site assessment also includes
sediment sampling in the marina to determine the feasibility of dredging the marina and
restoring the site to its historical marina use.
- The BTSC provided support in identifying cost-effective tools and approaches for the sampling
and analysis of the site.
- Support also included participation in project meetings and development of input for sampling
and analysis plans.
Highway 42 Revitalization Area, Louisville, CO
- This site received an assessment grant in August 2004.
- The Brownfields area for this grant is an industrial area consisting of a self storage
warehouse, an historic gun club and skeet shooting range, a former landscape contractor's
nursery, small manufacturing facilities, an auto body shop, and a concrete batch plant; in
addition, coal mines might underlie the area or parts of it.
- Plans for this area include preserving the two existing residential communities adjacent to
the Brownfields area and converting the existing industrial tracts into a transit-oriented
mixed-used development adjacent to the city's historic downtown.
- The BTSC provided assistance in development of the Field Sampling Plan by
incorporating use of the Triad approach, review/analysis of the Phase II report, and
participation in project meetings.
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